Tim Tebow and Christophobia

Two weeks into the NFL season, ESPN ran a Sunday-morning special exploring why the third-string quarterback of the Denver Broncos, Tim Tebow, had become the most polarizing figure in American sports — more polarizing than trash-talking NBA behemoths; more polarizing than foul-mouthed Serena Williams; more polarizing than NFL all-stars who father numerous children by numerous women, all out of wedlock.

Why does Tebow, and Tebow alone, arouse such passions? Why is Tebow the one whom “comedians” say they would like to shoot?

A hint: It has nothing to do with Tim Tebow’s prospects as a pro quarterback.

For readers who don’t follow the NFL, let me explain that Tim Tebow is a Heisman trophy winner who led the University of Florida to two mythical national collegiate championships. Many consider Tebow the greatest college football player ever, although there is a lot of skepticism about whether his skills will translate to the pro game.

He is, by all accounts, a terrific teammate and a hard worker. Beyond these bare facts of his sporting life, however, lie the beginnings of an answer to the question of why so many people hate Tim Tebow with an irrational hatred.

Tebow is the son of an evangelical pastor and spends some of his vacation time working with his father’s mission in the Philippines. He famously wore eye-black with Bible verses inked on it in white during his Florida career, and he is not reluctant to share his Christian faith in other public ways.

He visits sick kids in hospitals; he has said that he is a virgin who believes in saving himself for marriage; he and his mother taped a pro-life commercial that ran during the Super Bowl.

There is not the slightest evidence that Tebow has ever forced himself and his convictions on his teammates or on an unsuspecting public.

And if Catholics would find his theology a little questionable at points, there is nothing of which I’m aware that would suggest that Tim Tebow wouldn’t be interested in sitting down and having a serious conversation with knowledgeable Catholics about how God saves those who will be saved.

A guy who can command respect in the moral and cultural free-fire zone of an NFL locker room (not to mention the Southeastern Conference, which hardly resembles a network of Carthusian monasteries) is not likely to be shaken by a serious conversation about his understanding of how the Lord Jesus and his Father might effect the salvation of those who do not explicitly avow faith in the Lord Jesus and his Father.

No, Tim Tebow is a target of irrational hatred, not because he’s an iffy quarterback at the NFL level or a creep personally or an obnoxious, in-your-face, self-righteous proselytizer. He draws hatred because he is an unabashed Christian, whose calmness and decency in the face of his Christophobic detractors drives them crazy.

Tim Tebow, in other words, is a prime example of why Christophobia — a neologism first coined by a world-class comparative constitutional law scholar, J.H.H. Weiler, himself an Orthodox Jew — is a serious cultural problem in these United States.

It is simply unimaginable that any prominent Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist or Sikh quarterback — should such a fantasy of anthropology exist — would be subjected to the vileness that is publicly dumped on Tim Tebow.

Tolerance, that supreme virtue of the culture of radical relativism, does not extend to evangelical Christians, it seems. And if it does not extend to evangelicals who unapologetically proclaim their faith in Jesus as Lord and Savior and who live their commitment to the dignity of human life from conception and natural death, it will not extend to Catholics who make that same profession of faith and that same moral commitment.

Whatever we think of Tim Tebow’s theology of salvation, Tebow and serious Catholics are both fated to be targets of the Christophobes.

Wherever the Gospel is proclaimed with fervor, it draws opposition. The ultimate source of that opposition is the evil one, but we know what his fate will be.

What we don’t know is how democracy can survive widespread, radical Christophobia.

Comments

If you’re paying attention, examples of people hating Tebow are self-evident, even if Mr. Weigel doesn’t demonstrate it explicitly here. If you are part of the world, you can see open hostility to Tebow, both because of his playing style and his unwillingness to put Christ aside for ANYTHING. Google the topic in the last 3 days and you’ll see message board threads and even interviews with former Bronco QB Jake Plummer in which Tebow is taken to task for his openness about his faith.

As someone once said, good people make bad people uncomfortable because their example nudges us to work harder, which is just flat out tiring! Everyone feels better around themselves standing next to Jerry Sandusky, rather than Tim Tebow, to be sure. But the way of the cross is hard, never easy. As Catholics, we are often ostracized—even by our own—for seeing life thru the eyes of Christ. If there is someone unafraid to do this on an immense stage like Tim Tebow, then I’m willing to do it on a smaller stage, be it the office, the checkout counter, or the filling station.

p.s. I’d LOVE to have that conversation about salvation with Tebow. ;)

Posted by Joseph on Sunday, Oct 30, 2011 10:24 PM (EST):

Weigel and his lazy commentary strikes again. He doesn’t even make the effort to show some example of people hating Tebow. Get off you imaginary throne and actually do some work Weigel - your commentary is worthless.

Posted by Adolfo on Monday, Oct 24, 2011 11:30 PM (EST):

The college football championships are no more mythical than any other sports championship. Please fix that in an otherwise excellent article.

Posted by Vincent Allen on Monday, Oct 24, 2011 11:42 AM (EST):

I did a search on this term and found this article. I didn’t know it was part of today’s lexicon and thought, I made it up! But it doesn’t matter, this article articulates the reality of “Christophobia” in this young man’s life.

I’m experiencing more of this ‘phobia, lately. Making a stand and being bold enough to profess your convictions, somehow is “judging” others who happen to be earshot of your verbal testimony, which is far from “preachin’ at”, or actively attempting to convert anyone. At best, I preach at Christians to be about the convictions they claim to represent by calling themselves accordingly and let the “lost sinners” do what they want to do!

Mark 13:13 is beginning to become REAL, today. EVEN in a country that claims to be based on Christian principles!

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